Thursday, May 29, 2008

Durable goods orders off slightly

New orders for durable goods fell by a lower-than-expected 0.5% last month, according to data from the Department of Commerce.

Analysts surveyed by MarketWatch were expecting a 2.8% drop, while analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected a 2% decline.

Durable goods, which are manufactured goods designed to last at least three years, have fallen for three of the past four months.

Last month’s decline followed a 0.3% decrease in March.

Excluding transportation orders from the calculation, orders rose 2.5% last month.

Transportation orders, however, were off 8% as civilian-aircraft orders fell 24.4%.

Non-defense capital goods orders, excluding aircraft, increased last month by 4.2% after falling 1% in March.

Shipments of manufactured durable goods rose 1.2% last month, following two consecutive monthly decreases.

Non-defense new orders for capital goods fell 1.4%, and new defense orders for capital goods increased 4.8%.

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